Grants
Grants are a type of financial aid that does not have to be repaid. Generally, grants are for undergraduate students and the grant amount is based on need, cost of attendance and enrollment status. Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOG) ranged from $100 to $4,000 for the 2002-2003 school year, while Federal Pell Grants ranged from $400 to $4,000. For more informations about these grants, see the article: Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants & Pell Grants.

Scholarships
Financial undergraduate scholarships and graduate fellowships are forms of aid that help students pay for their education. Unlike loans, they do not have to be repaid. Hundreds of thousands of scholarships and fellowships from several thousand sponsors are awarded each year.

Best Ways to Find a scholarship:

1. FastWeb Scholarship Search
2. Local Public Library
3. Local College's Aid Office.

Generally, scholarships and fellowships are reserved for students with special qualifications, such as academic, athletic or artistic talent. Awards are also available for students who are interested in particular fields of study, who are members of underrepresented groups, who live in certain areas of the country or who demonstrate financial need.

The best way to search for scholarships and fellowships is to use a personalized search, like FastWeb, that compares your background with a database of awards. Only those awards that fit your profile are identified as matches.

There are several free scholarship databases available online. With more than $1 billion in scholarships, FastWeb is the largest, most accurate and most frequently updated scholarship database. If you supply an email address, they will notify you when new awards that match your profile are added to the database. You can even submit an electronic application to some of the scholarships listed on FastWeb, saving you time and money. FastWeb also includes a college search and numerous other student resources.

In addition to FastWeb, you may want to search one of the other free scholarship databases, e.g. the College Board's "Fund Finder" or the Scholarship Resource Network Express. It doesn't take much time to search and it's free. To find small local awards that aren't listed in any book or database, look for notices posted on bulletin boards at your school's guidance office, the public library and outside the financial aid office at nearby colleges and universities.